Judge says ‘no’ to teen charged in racing death

CONROE – A day after what police say was the county’s latest street racing fatality, a teen jailed in connection with another racing death stood before a judge as his attorneys asked for a bond reduction.

Judge Fred Edwards, of the 9th state District Court, denied a request by 17-year-old Lazaro Millan’s attorneys to lower his bond, which is currently set at $50,000.

Millan and 18-year-old Johnnie O’Neal are charged with Racing Resulting in a Fatality, a second-degree felony, in connection with the death of 17-year-old Jordan Wilson. If convicted, Millan and O’Neal face sentences of two years probation to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

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Assistant Montgomery County District Attorney Warren Diepraam said the judge’s decision to maintain the bond amount was based “evidence, (Millan’s) previous contact with law enforcement and the criminal justice system, the seriousness of the crash, the fact that the fled the scene and that he has contacts in Mexico.”

Lead investigator Chris Hill of the Conroe Police Department Community Oriented Response Team testified regarding another crash Millan had that involved speeding just two weeks prior to the fatal wreck, Diepraam said.

The crash occurred on Memorial Day Weekend, just north of the intersection of Airport Rd. and Byrdsong/E. Semands.

The 2006 Ford Fusion sedan, driven by O’Neal, left the road, struck a culvert, became airborne then ripped through a brick and wrought iron fence before striking a tree. Wilson was a passenger in the vehicle O’Neal was driving, and Millan was driving the other vehicle, according to the arrest warrant affidavits.

The impact was so extreme that crash debris was strewn for hundreds of feet in every direction. The engine was launched into a ditch on the opposite side of the roadway and the transmission landed in the middle of the street.

Wilson was transported to Conroe Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Dr. Patricia Moore with the Southeast Texas Forensic Center performed an autopsy on Wilson which found that he died from “blunt force trauma due to injuries sustained in a motor vehicle crash.”

O’Neal was reportedly walking and talking on the scene before he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands with non-life threatening injuries.

Both O’Neal and Wilson were varsity football players at Conroe High School. Wilson, a CHS Tigers defensive lineman, was named Most Valuable Player of the coaches’ All-District 14-5A team, and honorable mention 2008 Class 5a All-State team.
Wilson died less than a week before graduation, and two weeks before his eighteenth birthday.

The affidavits state Millan told investigators that “a car horn sounded three times indicating the beginning of the race, but that after a short amount of time, he noticed that he could not keep up. Millan stated that he thought he was doing around 70 or 80 miles per hour. Millan stated that he saw O’Neal lose control of his car, that he stopped for a short time, but ultimately fled the scene.”

“Millan stated that he believes that O’Neal was doing about 100 miles per hour.”

Conroe Police Officer Chris Hill, with the Community Oriented Response Team, prepared the accident report referenced in the affidavits, stating that “O’Neal’s speedometer was stuck at approximately 105-110 miles per hour…”